Construction of Ferry Boats and Ferry Terminal Facilities Program (FBP)

Funds the construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities by ferry systems in the States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories. This Assistance Listing 20.270 created in August 2025 was included in the previous ALN 20.205, please refer to for

FBP makes federal-aid highway funds available, through the State transportation agencies, for designing and constructing ferry boats and for designing, acquiring right-of-way, constructing ferry terminal facilities, including ferry maintenance facilities, and other activities as described in the FBP Implementation Guidance (Linked here: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/specialfunding/fbp/guidance.cfm). Ferry boats and terminal facilities that serve vehicular travel as links on public highways (other than Interstate highways), as well as ferry boats and terminals only serving passengers as a fixed route transit facility, may be eligible for certain types of Federal-aid highway funding.

FBP funds are allocated to States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories, distributed among eligible entities (ferry systems), based on a statutory formula. [23 U.S.C. 147(c) and (d)].

See program notice of funding.

"The FAST Act amended 23 U.S.C. 129(c) and 147. The FAST Act continued to allocate FBP funds to States, U.S. territories, and Puerto Rico, and then further among eligible entities (ferry systems), based on a statutory formula. However, the FAST Act modified that formula, giving greater weight to the number of passengers carried by ferry systems. The formula, as amended by the FAST Act, was amended as follows: • 35% based on the number of ferry passengers, including passengers in vehicles, carried by each ferry system; • 35% based on the number of vehicles carried by each ferry system; and • 30% based on the total route nautical miles serviced by each ferry system. [23 U.S.C. 147(d)] The FAST Act authorizes $80 million for each of FYs 2016 through 2020 and guarantees that a State with an eligible entity under the program will receive a minimum of $100,000 in FBP funding each fiscal year. [23 U.S.C. 147(f)] The FAST Act required a State to: • withdraw from an eligible entity any allocated FBP funds that that entity has not obligated by the end of the third fiscal year following the year in which State initially allocated the funds; and • redistribute those withdrawn funds (in accordance with the FBP formula described above) among other eligible entities. [23 U.S.C. 147(e)] The IIJA continued the eligibilities for the FBP under the FAST Act and added the following eligibilities- [NEW] allows eligible entities to use amounts made available under this section to pay the operating costs of the eligible entity; [§ 71103(g)(1); 23 U.S.C. 147(k)] under certain conditions, allows for the construction of ferry boats, ferry terminal facilities, and [NEW] ferry maintenance facilities; and Under certain conditions, allows procurement of transit vehicles used exclusively as an integral part of an intermodal ferry trip. [§ 11117(a); 23 U.S.C. 129(c)]. See https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/fbp_fact_sheet.cfm for additional information

Varies by project. FHWA determines criteria for selecting proposals based on the stated objectives of the funding opportunity.

Varies by project. Generally, FHWA publishes a notice of funding, soliciting applications for assistance, reviews these applications, and determines which applications are most qualified for award. Please see the individual notice of funding for details.